A street musician brought some joy and light to a cold, gray afternoon at the neighborhood Walmart in Alexandria last Friday.
It was 42-year-old Walter P. Lyons. Decked out in orange and blue and black with neon green gloves, this 6-foot, 350-pound troubadour was pumping his trombone and playing “Hold that Tiger!” People drove by. Some rolled down the window, honked and waved. Some stopped to hand him a tip. One young woman got out of her car and hurried over to give him a hug.
This is Walter Lyons’ job, five days a week. He’s off on Sunday to go to church and Monday to pay his bills, often hand-delivered with one-dollar bills.
Walter loves “busking,” which is performing as a street entertainer for tips and other gratuities. He does this mostly at the parking lots for stores where he gets the manager’s permission to do so. He usually performs in Alexandria or Pineville, where he lives in a small house with Warrior, his 2-year-old Pitweiler. Sometimes he performs in cities across Louisiana and occasionally across the South. He’d be just another street entertainer in New Orleans, but in Alexandria, he’s a rarity.
His income is erratic with highs and lows. “Like Friday, at that Walmart, everything was great, and it was up here,” he said, gesturing with a hand held high, “but the very next day I went to Ruston and it was down here, and, the day after that, I went to Shreveport, and it was down here.”
It’s a tough way to make a living. He doesn’t have another job because he has a tough time staying on a job. “The longest job I’ve had was teaching for 3 ½ years. I have what they call ‘IED,’” he says of intermittent explosive disorder, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, involves repeated, sudden bouts of impulsive, aggressive, violent behavior or angry verbal outbursts. The reactions are too extreme for the situation.
Walter blames his clashes with bosses on his unwillingness to follow orders or directives that clash with what he believes is best for, let’s say, the student, or the customer.
So, he buries the demon within by unleashing his love – his love for music. It’s something he has been doing since playing some bongo drums at age 4. He did this at practice sessions in the family’s home near Lower Third (Scallan Street) involving his father, Arthur Charles Lyons, a local jazz musician. Walter started playing the trombone at the South Alexandria Sixth Grade Center and he has been playing it since, through Brame Middle School, Peabody Magnet High School and Southern University, where he graduated in 2006 with a major in biology and a minor in music.
He has tinkered with other musical instruments, like the piano and the tuba, but he “fell in love” with the trombone at age 12. His music teacher at the time, who was a French horn player with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra, showed him all the brass instruments available and told him to pick one. He recognized the long trombone from one his father had in a closet and chose it.
Ernie Bott, a trombonist for the Rapides Symphony Orchestra for many years and a former longtime band director at Bunkie High School, was Walter’s junior high band director. Walter says Bott was a great influence in triggering his love affair with the trombone.
“He was a good student and fun to have in class,” Bott said of Walter. “He was enthusiastic and worked hard and he obviously had talent. The combination of talent and hard work is rare. I totally enjoyed having him as a student in my class and teaching him.”
Walter has been bringing joy to folks for some five years playing his trombone, be it as a parking lot busker or playing at parties or events or at Christian Love Baptist Church. It started in 2019 when he grew weary trying to work a day job delivering pizza and then working an 8-hour night shift for a security company.
He said a man once asked him while he was performing at a parking lot if he would stop and go play “Happy Birthday” to his wife at a local restaurant, and he offered him $40 to do so. Overjoyed at the request, Walter jumped at the opportunity.
With misty eyes he recalls an encounter with a depressed young man in his early 20s in front of the Walmart in Natchitoches. “He told me he was very intent on ending his life,” Walter said. “I sat and listened to him for a while, and we talked. He went home and thought about it but didn’t do it, and he came back and tipped me and hugged me passionately and thanked me for saving his life.”
One of the poor among us, Walter figures it’s a lot better to be a happy busker, smiling and dancing and transporting people through music to a better place, than being a sour-faced panhandler holding a woe-is-me sign.
“If I can make people forget about their problems for even 30 seconds with my music, wearing bright colors and playing happy songs,” he said, “then I feel I’ve made a contribution, helping bring hope or happiness to the world.”
In a world that’s dark too often, we can use more such offerings of light.
If you’re interested in having Walter P. Lyons entertain at a gathering or event, you can call him at (318) 451-8800, or you can find him on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, CashApp, Venmo or GoFundMe.